I will strive beyond this cursed bloodline!

Chapter 41: Catherine 1 - [The Stardust Explorer]'s fears

She was Catherine Starlight, one of the most (If not the most) powerful magical girls in all the worlds... And yes, that was a plural. Also a married woman to one of the most handsome men in the world...Sadly that was singular, hubby was nice and all, but she didn't marry him because of his looks...Even though those muscles do help somewhat... She was also a mother of one, a wonderful baby girl that was too good at some things, and kinda awkward at others. That precocious child of hers never asked for much...Besides time to spend in her bed while the world kept spinning that is. At least her informers (Her fan club) told her a story of how she was diligent in her work and about how she was making friends here and there... A few rivalries with a couple of brats too. And even though nowadays the internet and the gossip newsman like to talk all about the new rising stars. And about how the older generation was getting more antiquated for the ages. The higher-ups still knew who was the one to go to deal with problems. And even while that was fun and all, and it definitely had nice perks like the ones she used with prejudice in that event almost 10 years ago when a Villain attacked her house and Eli-Eli... At least hubby dealt with the problem fast enough that the world at large thought the villain never made it to their home...And that...Wasn't quite right. You see. On that day Hubby and I were working on the other side of the planet, so when we noticed something was amiss at home, and rushed back... What we found...Well, it wasn't something we would like to share with the world at large...Not that day, and certainly not today. She was still the same even at that point, both Catherine Starlight and Jackson Brighton. They were at the apex of humanity, with bodies that one could say confidently that was sculpted by the hand of the gods... And then they envied that work and sent them away to earth to waste away. Loved and envied by all be it, peers, villains, nemesis, and the world at large. So when they were fighting against the incursion into their world by malignant forces and an alarm sounded... They were flustered, to say the least. "Hubby! One of the alarms triggered at the house, someone violated the main fence!" Screamed Catherine while rushing towards his husband. He for his part got serious in a second and relayed his orders in a steel tone. "We will leave, [Juggernaut] will take my place, [Warlock] you take [Stardust Explorer] spot." And he grabbed his wife and started walking away. "Do we call [The Traveler]?" Asked her wife while manifesting barrier after barrier around herself. She already knew the answer to her question. "No. It will be faster if I carry you back." And before he even made the motion to carry his wife in a princess carry. Someone else chimed in. "Doesn't your house have [Wards] cast by all of us? Doesn't your outer defense perimeter has alarms built by [The Tinker]?" It was an albino woman dressed in the garb of a priestess. "Yeah yeah! My [Wards] didn't trigger at all!" Came the voice of the blue-skinned man with a demonic appearance "I don't want to go into the spot of [Stardust]! It's too dangerous!" Of course, he was most worried about his own skin. The one called [Juggernaut] for her part, a monstrous figure of hulking muscles tied in by a body armor didn't say a thing. It just pointed at [The Warlock] and then to the spot where Catherine had been before. "The wards that triggered were inside the yard of the house. Someone got a [Keystone] and got inside. We don't know what happened, but we don't have time for this." Said Catherine while manifesting a few magical circles... Then more... And more... Soon enough there was a wall made entirely of magical circles. "ENOUGH!" Came the thunderous voice of Jackson Brighton...No... The voice of [The American Crusader]. "We will leave and go to our home to see what is going on. That isn't a question. The only question here is... How many of you will be alive when we return after checking on Elizabeth." Jack said with finality. Between the humongous amount of magical circles conjured by [The Stardust Explorer]. And the very real threat of [The American Crusader] the [Heroes] didn't say anything more. Of course, only two of them had wanted to complain. The rest...Were occupied in other parts of the world. [The Traveler] was dealing with secret stuff in the streets of London... [The Tinkerer] was at the headquarters fixing some equipment that had been malfunctioning. [The Sniper] wasn't built for this kind of work so she was also at headquarters as a guard. [Shadow Pact]...Who knows where that man was half the time. Unless there was a crisis that could harm the world or it was a scheduled meeting, it was impossible to find him. [The Beast Master] was probably wrestling another gigantic monster in someplace to protect some random island, how he called them? Kaiju? [The Prophet] and [The Warlock] were already here complaining, while [The Juggernaut] took her job with serious aplomb. One couldn't believe she was the youngest one of them. [The Elementalist] and [The Sniper] were dealing with some weird midget in germania that wanted to start a war or something. They had caught the scent of [Fate] at play, so they had to nip that in the bud with overwhelming force. So really, only she and hubby could deal with the problem at home. And if [The Prophet] and [The Warlock] didn't fall in line that fast after Hubby's threat... Yeah, she knew of plenty of dammed worlds to send them. "That's what I thought. I will redirect [The Sniper] and [The Beast Master] to deal with that thing." Said Hubby while pointing at the problem at hand. Some kind of demonic invasion spilled into their plane. It wasn't that serious, more that it was annoying to deal with, and so they were called. To be honest [The Warlock] and [The Prophet] could deal with that easily enough. But they were both underpowered since their [Contracts] locked their power in place. And so, they were up to the whims of their respective gods. So after making sure they were backing up [The Juggernaut] hubby nodded my way and so we jumped. In one leap we were in orbit, and materializing a sturdy barrier in his feet, hubby jumped downwards into the general location of home. It would be up to me to steer the flight travel. "Don't slow our momentum till the last moment. I can deal with the backlash." Said hubby in that tone he liked to use when giving orders. More remnants of his past in the army. And part of the reason that I decided to settle in this world. That and the clear absence of a [System], not even the starts of one. The gods of this world were either too young or didn't care enough. That was better for me to be honest. "Sure hubby, but I can't deal with the same kind of backlash that you can." That was all I said. I could actually, but unlike hubby, I didn't get wounded. And even if I knew he had a body that could survive a planet falling on his head and regenerate from the smallest piece of flesh. I still didn't like my man getting hurt. "Hmm...." And he knew I was lying. "Elizabeth has enough time, they won't hurt her. Besides, my last [Ward] hasn't triggered, so the interloper might be just waiting outside the house." But that was only a half-truth. While my last ward didn't activate, that one was on the house. So if Eli-Eli was on the outside... No, better to not think like that. So I just placed the barrier and we shot like a falling star. And once the house was in sight... My heart fell to my stomach, and my hubby's face got stone cold in a second. I didn't wait for his answer and boosted our speed while preparing the right safeguards to protect the city and more important. My baby girl...My daughter. She was outside the house, but that wasn't the problem. Oh no no no no. The [Scum] that had invaded our house. He was impaled by what I could only describe as [Shadow spears]. "You okay baby girl?" Asked hubby while walking slowly with measured paces toward Elizabeth. She...She wasn't right. I could feel it. I was sure hubby could too. This... This wasn't what they promised us. "[Acknowledged. Target has been neutralized.]" Came the monotone voice of my baby girl. Her blonde and silky hair was tainted by dark tones, and her usually sky-blue eyes were devoid of life. Granted she almost half of the time had tired eyes in the house. But you could still see the mischief in them... This... This was closer to a machine than a child. "You were scared, right? It's okay, papa will deal with that." Continued in a soothing voice hubby. All I could do to not start crying at this was to remember, remember that we needed to deal with this fast before anyone else came. "Jack. Deal with that. I will help...Elizabeth." I tried saying it in a steady tone. If it came as a cry for help or in tears...My hubby never told me. "So..." I said while kneeling before my baby girl. "You awakened? Triggered? I knew you were smarter than everyone else." An attempt at a joke, to defuse the situation and give me time to address the elephant in the room. "[The Host hasn't experienced what the dwellers of this world refer as Awakening or Trigger Event.]" Said in a clinical and monotone tone, my baby girl. "[Host's life was deemed in danger and a premature use of power was authorized by (The world).]" Continued speaking to the little girl. "... This wasn't part of the deal. You weren't supposed to go near her if she didn't summon you." Said in a harsh tone hubby. The [Scum] that was impaled by those shadowy spears no longer was in sight. "[By the accords signed we were allowed a few instances of help if the host was in immediate danger. This was one such. The host is also currently under several mind probes and Geass class spells. Care is advised as we don't have the means to deal with that.]" Said the [Thing] using my daughter as a speaker. That [Thing] also summoned one of the things I never wanted to see again. The same thing that gave me nightmares to this day and part of the reason I choose this world to live in. A blue screen. "[If no action is made, the host might need an earlier awakening. This isn't under the previous contract. You have been warned.]" And after that, the shadow tendrils that spread from her chest all over her body started receding. Her tainted hair returned to normal. Her tiny arms no longer were painted black. Her eyes face no longer had dark pulsating veins. Her eyes showed light for the briefest of seconds, followed by a sweet smile before fading into sleep once again. I'm ashamed to say that we weren't the ones to stop her fall, but the shadows. The aftermath of this event in contrast was way easier to deal with. The world council denounced Hubby for punching a villain into the sun. Then denounced me for fixing him into an orbit with his family. They failed to account the man had a [Keystone] that allowed him to ignore all the wards and security measures of our home. But hubby dealt with it easily enough. "I have filed all your worries and do understand them." He said to the surprise of everyone in the council. "And I don't care about them. If my daughter or wife is put in danger once again. I will destroy the ruling body of anyone that helped that. This event? This I will let go as a sign of goodwill." He finished and started walking away from the maelstrom of complaints. "YOU CAN'T DO THAT!" Said a particular pudgy man. He was the most likely to have engineered the problem this time. "Who is going to stop me?" Asked hubby with a smile on his face. He didn't even let the man talk before adding "And by the way, most [The Twelve] will not move to stop me, they value their life more than they value yours." Granted, we didn't form [The Twelve] to be heroes and save the people of this world. No. If that was the reason there wouldn't be [Villains] nor people with shady past. Like Arthur or [Shadow Pact]. [The Twelve] exists to protect this world against the invasion of the horrors beyond this plane. And why do the things that happened so far into the past matter now? Well... I was happy when Eli-Eli had asked her to go visit her at the school. I even choose a modest [Shift] to use, and put on actual clothes! Instead of just forming mana dresses or shirts. But when I arrived at the dorm... First I found a pink-haired girl, the same one that had been on the background call of the first day. She was sharing the apartment with Eli-Eli. That was fair, the school liked to pair talents that had good chemistry. And Eli-Eli was probably the best pair for this girl. Even if she was a mess...It seemed Eli-Eli had got the charm of momma! Wonder if that meant that I wouldn't get Grandchildren. Bleh, nothing a little magic can't solve! No, the problem wasn't something as mundane as that. The problem was...When Eli-Eli said she hadn't called me here. Only very few people knew my phone number. And even after that, the list turned smaller if one thinks about the number of people that would dare to call me on a private line. If we also address the number of people that could manage to deceive me? There were none. Not in this world. But for now, I wanted to enjoy the meal with Eli-Eli. At least till the breakfast ended and she wanted to ask me something. What it was? God knows. Because she started speaking and then I saw it. The life leaving her eyes and then...[That] surfaced once again, after 10 years... It was still dwelling inside her. "[Warning. The host is closing into forbidden information before earning enough information allocation. Rolling back thought process...]" Started mumbling that [Thing]. Shadowy veins started forming from her chest to her head. Holding her tears was the best that I could do. If she was reading well enough the mana manipulation that [Thing] was doing it, she couldn't show her emotions, not yet. "[Relaying message channel from HQ.]" Said that [Thing] while summoning another one of those hideous screens. "Sorry about that Catherine." Said a blonde man in one of those overly expensive-looking suits. He shared the blue eyes same as her daughter. But that was the end of the similarities between them. She was a kind and well-mannered girl. That man was an asshole and not one of the good ones you could joke around with. Even if he was a devilish handsome bastard one. "This wasn't part of the deal, your company was only supposed to fix Eli-Eli's [Core]." I said while trying to keep an even tone. "Oh, you mean her [Soulscape]?" Asked the blonde man. Tch, right. They now knew about that. "You thought we wouldn't find out about such a fine thing? You might have sneaked that on us the first time. But after 10 years in that world... Even the most useless enterprise would have found." Smiled that man in that annoying way he did. Like the cat that was playing with his prey. "I gave you access to a world free of [The System] your company made... I gave you a way to escape the doomed world your company engineered." Said the blonde woman while staring at the hideous screen. "And we fixed the problems in the [Soul] of your daughter. Stabilized the [Frame] and affixed a program caretaker for it. I even programmed it myself!" Said with an overly dramatic gesture. "Granted, we lost contact with the program 10 years ago for a few minutes... And after that weird cult thing, you do to your kids the last the last vestiges of control we had are gone..." He said while summoning a red screen with some graphics and information that she couldn't understand. "But the [Frame] should be holding since that girl is alive. And the [Caretaker Program] seems to be still working since she still is getting mental nudges to keep her away from dangerous [Information]." Monologued the blonde man on the screen. "Then you say that...[This thing] came to the surface because Elizabeth wanted to ask something related to your... Program?" Asked the blonde woman. Trying very hard to not look at her daughter. "She probably saw something in her [Soulscape] that made her wonder and was about to ask you something. And the [Program] deemed you liable to answer." Shrugged the blonde man. She...Was probably going to answer so he wasn't wrong. "Why does the [Program] care about what information I give her?" Asked the blonde woman. "Since her soul was bigger than it should be. She is liable to grasp [Idea] easier...You don't want someone with that kind of power saying [Burn] instead of Burn." Said the blonde man. He could see it too though. And while he might have a point... "Fine, but take your filthy claws out of my daughter. The Saintsworth expanded to this world after ruining yours. But you have no right to mess with my daughter. So if your work is done..." She said and while there weren't many magical circles forming. Only about two or three... It was relevant since they now were orbiting around the blonde man. She was making a point here, he might be in one of his bunkers on the other side of the world, galaxy, or universe. But he wasn't safe from her. "Fine... My methods may seem harsh, but the alternative wasn't better." Said the blonde man while grabbing a datapad and throwing it at one of the several magical circles that were orbiting around him. "Also, take your...Things outside my suite. I still have an image to keep as CEO of the Saintsworth Conglomerate. Can't have them thinking I'm at odds with the premier magical girl [The Stardust Explorer]." He said while standing and walking towards the door. "That datapad holds the main database of my program, destroy it, have examined by Amelia... Do as you wish, the [Program] did his work and doesn't need to stay anymore anyway. Your... Daughter can deal with her [Soulscape] as she wishes. " Finished saying the blonde man. "Just teach her how to use [Idea] the right way or not. Who I am to tell you how to educate your spawn." And on that note, the blue screen dissipated. Was he using those to annoy her? No way he was planning to awake another one of those right? Uuugh...She was going to need to bring that up in the next meeting. Maybe ask Arthur? He had forsaken that family... But he might still have some inside men? After [The Tinker] examined that data pad. She summoned it to her side and promptly hide it in her purse. The shadow tendrils in her baby girl were starting to dissipate. "[Please refrain from speaking about the CEO by name or anything about the location of the previous HQ.]" Said the [Thing] puppeteering her daughter. "... You... Don't fear for your existence?" Asked the blonde woman. For almost a second she thought she had seen that thing smirk. But that was impossible... Right? "[Neither you nor Alexanders can do much to me besides turning off the program.] "Said that [Thing]. "[Besides, my work was done 10 years ago. My Inheritor didn't even need this program, she could form her [Soulscape] without help]." And on that note, that thing disappeared. Wait... Inheritor? DID THAT BASTARD TRY TO STEAL HER DAUGHTER FROM HER?!? That is, she was nuking his bunker. But that would be for later since Eli-Eli was returning to the world of the living. Her confused face was adorable. "What was I saying?" Said the girl. "Oh right, I have this... Skill? Spell?. I don't know how to describe it, but it gives me information about people. But nowadays it isn't working quite right, the information keeps changing." Finished saying the girl while making all kinds of adorable gestures. "Oh, like an [Appraisal spell]?" I said while getting a [Scroll] from my purse and giving it to Eli-Eli. She quickly sent Mana to the thing and cast the spell. Her mana control skill was... Something, she could see how that [Thing] had tainted it, it was... too precise. It was the level of control no human should have, more like a machine than a human. But it served Eli-Eli well if nothing else. "Hmm...Yeah, something like that. Mine is more... Complete? This doesn't show your name or anything else. It only gives you a perception of how much mana you have?" Said the girl. She could see more? Hmm...Was that why that [Thing] didn't want Eli-Eli to have information about the other world? So Eli-Eli didn't try to fish for information on [System]s? I mean...I could see how using [Idea] with the [System] as inspiration could awaken a version of that here... But they would get enough of a warning if something like that tried to encroach here. "I see, well the easiest way to make sure your magic or skills work is by infusing [Idea] into them," I said while smiling and preparing myself to surprise Eli-Eli. She was so going to love this.